After Doomsday
by nirvana heart
Summary: After Robotnik was defeated in space, the Master Emerald separated Sonic's body from Hyper Sonic's. But the wrong hedgehog fell back down to planet Mobius with the Emerald in hand.
1. The Fall

"Oof!"

Knuckles, the level-headed but gullible guardian of the Master Emerald, jolted in fright as a white figure crashed down next to where he had been sitting with the Emerald, and landed right on his stomach; the white figure didn't move for several seconds, and Knuckles was just about to panic – he'd been too busy staring in utter shock and fright – when the strange creature's gloved hand reached out, trying to grab something, his face still buried in the grass.

"R-Ring...I need...I need a Ring..."

Knuckles kept Rings nearby, and one was just within his grasp. He handed it to the white creature, and tried to help him sit up, but also kept his distance if he turned out to be one of Robotnik's goons.

Which reminded him.

Sonic!

They'd been on a fantastic adventure, but Knuckles wouldn't lie - he'd believed that Sonic and Tails were there to steal the Master Emerald for themselves, and had rudely snatched the Chaos Emeralds from them when they first arrived on his island. But he'd been proven wrong by their noble deeds, and he'd pursued them all through Angel Island to Hydrocity, past Carnival Night and Launch Base; then they'd reunited in Mushroom Hill, and didn't meet again until the Hidden Palace, when Knuckles had realised they were trying to help him. He wouldn't exactly have considered Sonic and Tails to be his friends. They were...assistants. Acquaintances. He was grateful for their help, but Sky Sanctuary was his limit. The two went up into the Death Egg and with Tails' return about an hour ago, Sonic was in space pursuing Robotnik.

But where Sonic was, or what happened to Robotnik, Knuckles had no idea.

"Excuse me," Knuckles began, and cleared his throat nervously. "Who are you?"

"I..." the strange figure started. He opened his jade eyes, and when he moved his head, Knuckles gasped as he watched the quills, mesmerized by the wonderful colours. The creature's head shone rainbow colours when catching the light, like a gemstone, a diamond, a clear emerald...it was beautiful, and Knuckles couldn't help gawking at him for a few moments, but dusted himself down when he saw the creature – who he noticed was a hedgehog – staring at him. "You're Knuckles, aren't you?"

Knuckles raised an eyebrow. "How do you know my name?"

The white hedgehog shook his head, trying frantically to remember something. "I...I don't know. Well, I...I just _knew_ that was your name. I think..." His eyes widened. He'd realised something. His bottom lip trembled.

"What?" Knuckles raised an eyebrow. _"What?"_

"Oh no. Oh _no..."_

* * *

_"__Mother! Mother, big brother's gone to Mobius! The blue boy's come here instead!"_

_"__It is alright, my darling. He will find his own way back."_

_"__But...but can't we help him? Why's he there and not here?"_

_"__The Master Emerald...it was not on our side. You know that thoughts influence the Emerald quite profoundly, if one's desire is strong enough."_

_"__So...so Robotnik thought that big brother shouldn't come home?"_

_"__...not quite, little one."_

_"What happened, Mother? Why won't you tell me?"_

_"It has only been a short time, my darling. We must wait until the answers are clear..."_

_"____Oh, please, Mother! Let me go there to him! I can help!"_

_"__No. Not yet. You will see your brother again. I promise you that. For the blue boy, I cannot say..."_

* * *

The white hedgehog explained that he had fallen from space. Knuckles believed him, remembering that Tails had helped Sonic all the way up to the Death Egg, but that was his limit – he'd flown back down in the Tornado and promised to catch Sonic or at least keep a lookout for him. It had been a waiting game from then on out, and the white hedgehog, at the right time, had fallen instead. Still Knuckles hadn't caught a name out of him yet, and he'd called Tails to let him know, but as time slowly ticked on, the sun still shining high over Angel Island, he began to worry more and more about Sonic – what with this hedgehog's voice, mannerisms, and generally everything else about him, he knew that he wasn't Sonic in disguise. There was no way he would have carried on a prank for this long, and not like this. Knuckles bit his lip after hanging up the phone, an inert sadness coiling in his center, and he would either suffocate from it or breathe in hot, stinging air until he was relieved.

So just who was this white hedgehog? He was grateful for whoever he was, anyway – he'd returned the Master Emerald in Sonic's place. Knuckles returned outside, where he was waiting, twirling his Ring expertly around gloved fingers. Lord, he looked _so_ much like Sonic, but he was considerably taller than than the hedgehog. He didn't seem to pose much of a threat, though, and a distant look had glazed his eyes over. Knuckles, again, cleared his throat. "I, uh...what did you say your name was?"

"Just call me Hyper."

Knuckles furrowed his brow. "Hyper? What kind of name is that?"

"It's what Sonic called me."

"Speaking of which," Knuckles quickly averted the subject. Man, this guy was a weirdo. "Where is he, anyway? And how did you know him?"

Hyper closed his eyes. He stopped twirling his Ring. Knuckles couldn't fathom for the life of him why he needed it so. "I helped him out a little on the way to defeat Robotnik."

"Really?" Knuckles inquired. "Well, tell me! I never saw you there with him on the way!"

Hyper smiled. "We met just after you left at Mushroom Hill. He found a Giant Ring past the door you closed, and when he and Tails jumped in, they found a little gateway between my world and Mobius. Where the Super Emeralds are kept."

"_Your_ world?" Knuckles had had enough. This guy really was a weirdo. "Alright, big guy, just tell me where Sonic's at, alright? Before Tails worries himself silly. And _don't_ get me started on Amy!"

Hyper's face fell, and his grip on the Ring tightened. His eyes shut, guilt tightening his features, and once he opened them, he looked ready to burst into tears. His bottom lip trembled. Guilt was etched into every feature. "Knuckles...I have a bit of explaining to do."

"Explain away," Knuckles rolled his eyes. "I'm listening."

"Don't interrupt me whilst I'm telling you what happened," Hyper sighed. "Just...just hear me out."

Knuckles nodded. Hyper gulped, and gasped, and then spoke. He was crying. Knuckles' fearless demeanour began to crumble as he slowly, slowly began to catch on what Hyper was crying over; his folded arms fell limp, his mouth hung open, his eyes wide, his lip trembling, his eyes welling up. He...he...

"I...I don't know how to say this easily, Knuckles..."

* * *

_"__My darling, it is time for you to go and help Sonic."_

_"__Okay, Mother. I'm ready."_

_"__Do you know what you must do?"_

_"__When he collects the right number of Rings, I'll sense it, and take over him for a little while."_

_"__Your battle will take you into space, my darling. Please be careful. And whatever you do, always keep a Ring with you. Is that clear?"_

_"__Yes, Mother. Don't worry. I'll help him as much as I can!"_

_"__Thank you, my darling. You are so brave..."_


	2. Hopelessness

Sonic was dead.

That was what Hyper had told him.

Knuckles wouldn't lie – he wasn't hugely upset, but that was because he had only known Sonic for a short time. Tails had known him longest of all, just slightly longer than Amy had, when he'd rescued her over at Little Planet; Knuckles wouldn't even have considered Sonic to be much of a friend. More of a playful rival, one that he would insult until his dying day, but would never actually go out of his way to hurt.

But _dead?_ The cheerful, sunny, ants-in-his-pants blue hedgehog was dead. Knuckles couldn't imagine Sonic being dead. Still, lying somewhere, cold, motionless. _Dead. _He was so full of life, so happy, so much fun to be around (as much as Knuckles would have never admitted that) and for Sonic to even be asleep was a huge feat in itself. But _dead?_ No. No. That wasn't right. That wasn't possible. Sonic couldn't have died so easily. If Hyper was really who he said he was, shouldn't Sonic have survived?

"It was the last collision with Robotnik's machine," Hyper sadly explained over a cup of tea. Knuckles made one with extra sugar to help get over the shock, and did his best to prepare himself for any emotional reaction later. Tails still hadn't arrived. Maybe he knew. Maybe it was all over town. Or maybe it was just between Hyper and himself. "He was pretty beat up. I told him that we should take a break and go look for Rings for a while, but he...he was just so determined, you know? To stop Robotnik. As far as I'm aware, he died up there too. In the explosion."

"Good riddance," Knuckles rolled his eyes, but was beginning to become more and more worried about what Tails would say. Really, what would Tails do now? Where would he live? What would he do without his big brother by his side? Knuckles wondered if the little fox would start to look up to the echidna instead.

_Don't you dare think such a thought, Knuckles! You couldn't replace Sonic for him!_

"But then...it's all so clear," Hyper sighed. "I don't really know where to start."

"At the beginning," Knuckles smiled. "That's usually quite a good place."

Hyper couldn't smile back, but just as he was about to speak, Tails burst in with Amy in tow, both of them excited and eager and waiting impatiently to see Sonic and celebrate his heroic return, and the defeat of Doctor Robotnik at last. Robotnik, who had so plagued Angel Island, and Westside Island when Sonic and Tails lived there, was finally gone. Even worse, they had balloons with them, and Knuckles felt like punching them. Hyper couldn't muster up the energy to greet them himself - he didn't know them personally. Instead, with the help of his Ring, he teleported to another room, and pressed his ear against the door of the bathroom to listen in. If anyone tried to come in he supposed he could have just teleported away, but...

"Knuckles! Knuckles, I'm sorry I'm late, it's just that-"

"Never mind that, Tails, where's my Sonic? Sooo_ooonic!"_

Knuckles bit his lip. How in the world was he supposed to break this news to them, and where had Hyper disappeared off to? Knuckles didn't doubt that Hyper had great powers, but he would have been furious if the hedgehog had ran off when Knuckles needed him the most. He sighed, rubbed the back of his head, and choked out the words. "He's...not here."

"Why did you invite us here if Sonic isn't here?!" Amy cried.

"Because...well...oh, I don't know!" Knuckles threw his hands into the air, but then when Amy had at last calmed down, Knuckles gulped and his voice became softer. Sadder. Hyper's hands clenched into worried fists, his brow furrowing anxiously, wondering if he should intervene somehow. But his mother's voice echoed in his head and told him to stay put.

Knuckles gulped again. "Listen, uh...I've got bad news. Really, really b-bad news. You might want to sit down."

Immediately, Tails' face fell, and it was as if he _knew_ what Knuckles was about to tell him, and the echidna very nearly gasped in utter anguish at the thought of Tails knowing...but there was no other way. He would find out sooner or later, when Sonic never came back, or even worse, if they somehow found Sonic's body. What with Hyper's presence, he knew that it wasn't very likely, but still. _How horrific that would have been, _Knuckles sighed to himself. Amy, on the other hand, was busy searching all of the rooms in Knuckles' small abode for the blue hedgehog and was having no luck. Hyper hid behind the door when she slammed the bathroom one open, but didn't spend any more than two seconds looking.

"What's wrong, Knuckles?" Tails softly questioned. Amy finally sat down next to him, swinging her legs and looking curious about what was up. But at the sound of Tails' voice, her face became much more distressed.

"Is Sonic okay?!" she cried.

Hyper kept his ear pressed against the door, feeling himself start to shiver.

"Well...he..."

Hyper shut his eyes. Tears stung. Eyes burnt underneath hot lids.

"You know that he was in space, and..."

Hyper waited for the screams. The cries and the shouting. The reactions he'd watched in terror as fires ravaged through Mobius' enormous, beautiful forests, reduced to smoking piles of ash, and using the power of the emeralds to help restore them to their previous glory; but he couldn't use the emeralds now. He couldn't bring back Sonic. He waited, and Hyper shut his eyes, the screams of the dying Mobians engulfed by flames echoing in his head, just as real as they had been thousands of years ago.

Then the screams were genuine. Real.

It was Amy.

Lord, he wanted to end it already, he couldn't stand it, he could literally hear her heart breaking in her strangled cries, and he remembered hearing Sonic think that Amy was just an annoying little girl who was obsessed with him. But these...these weren't the sounds of an obsessed little girl. These were the shrieks of a newly widowed wife, a young lover so caught up in rose-coloured infatuation they knew nothing else, and it was _painful_. Everything hurt. The misery, the grief, the heart-wrenching gut-ripping guilt that he'd survived and Sonic hadn't. Cluster headache, shivering hands, sweaty ear pressed against the door with no more feeling in it, he could almost feel his brain crumbling away inside of his head and he knew that Amy felt the same.

In the living room, Amy was on the floor. Tails was in shock, crying quietly to himself, grieiving privately. Amy let it be known. Her throat throbbed, vertebrae ached, stomach turned over, throat choked with tears, an emotional disaster; sins, fears, broken hearts flashed back to her like she was dying, their scars once again painted all over his cold skin. She tried to take deep breaths; tried to focus on happy times with Sonic, how her heart soared when she saw him, taking flight and flying away, the lonely blackness of the future looming ahead of her, but her heart was cracking into a thousand little gunshot staccato wisps. Irrevocably traumatised, terrified, nyctophobic, bereaved was an understatement.

Sonic.

Dead.

Her Sonic. _Her_ Sonic.

But he'd never really been _her_ Sonic, had he?

Knuckles helped Amy back onto the sofa, and just held her for what felt like eternity. Outside, the sun began to set, casting orange and pink and yellow lights over Angel Island. The sun caught Hyper's quills and he glowed, but he sobbed silently, his back against the door and he slid down to the carpet, curling up into a hopeless ball, whose quills should have been blue instead of white and whose tears should have been mixed with heroic triumphance rather than terrible aching hopelessness.

* * *

Hyper decided to introduce himself, keeping his shivering hand steady by clutching the Ring. When he appeared in the doorway of the living room, Knuckles was the first to notice him, and stood up, letting Amy fall limply on the sofa. When her dulled eyes met Hyper's, they widened, and her face was void of all wordless expression - but he refused to look at her. He made no move. He let no emotion cross his features.

"Amy, don't get up," Knuckles began, pushing her back down. "You too, Tails. This is someone I met today, and he was there when Sonic...when he..."

Wordlessly, Amy stood up, despite Knuckles' protests. Her normally sweet face contorted into a snarl. Tails, who was still crying, looked up, anxious and fearful of the dreadful silence that had darkened over the living room. "And just _who are you?"_ she choked in a cracked whisper.

Hyper didn't falter. Knuckles admired his bravery - few dared to stand up to the pink hedgehog when it came to Sonic, but she didn't even look relatively playful, or..._anything,_ really. Pure, insatiable ferocity had twisted her completely. "I'm Hyper," he introduced himself. "I was up in space with Sonic, helping him defeat Robotnik."

"Oh, _yeah?"_ Amy snickered menacingly. "And what happened to you up there? Why do you look like my Sonic?" At the mention of the blue hedgehog a tear rolled down her cheek.

"I look like Sonic because I channelled my energy into him," Hyper began to explain. "My powers fully awaken when all of the Super Emeralds are collected. Sonic and Tails found them all, and so I helped them to defeat Robotnik. We were successful, but...with a great consequence," Hyper hung his head. "A consequence that I believe was a complete mistake on the fault of no one."

"Of _course!"_ Knuckles cried before Amy could insult Hyper further. "Of course, that makes sense, now! If you were able to give Sonic those powers, then...then you must be one of the gods!"

Hyper nodded, looking slightly triumphant that Knuckles had finally figured him out. "That's right. I am one of the two sons of Thelessa, the goddess who created Mobius. She also created the Master Emerald, as you probably know, Knuckles." The echidna nodded and folded his arms. Hyper noted that his eyes were crimson and bloodshot. He'd been crying, too.

"What does this have to do with Sonic?!" Amy cried, stomping her foot down like an insolent child. "I don't care if you're a god! Why are _you_ here and not Sonic?!"

"Please listen," Hyper sighed. "I think what happened is that the Master Emerald was influenced by Robotnik's desire to...to kill Sonic. His desire was so strong that it brainwashed the Emerald, if you will, into perceiving his thoughts to be good ones...and so, Sonic was killed when our bodies were separated."

_"What?"_

"We were separated," Hyper repeated. "The Master Emerald was supposed to do that. That was what I thought would happen, once Robotnik had been destroyed. The Emerald would send me back to my world, and Sonic to his. But that didn't happen."

"You're a _liar!"_ Amy spat, and her incensed eyes seemed to burst into flame, and it stunned even Hyper. "You're a crazy, mean, stupid _liar_ and you killed my Sonic!"

Tails, Hyper and Knuckles gasped – they knew Amy was borderline psychotic when it came to matters about Sonic, despite her good intentions, but they'd never heard her sound so furiously angry, her teeth bared, and the twinkle in her eyes seemed dulled. Knuckles sighed mentally. She was heartbroken.

"Robotnik died, too," Tails quietly pointed out.

Amy turned to Hyper and glared. "I bet you enjoyed it up there, too, sucking out all of Sonic's energy! Well, you got what you wanted, didn't you? You killed him!"

"I didn't kill him!" Hyper pleaded, holding onto his Ring for dear life. Amy wanted to strangle him with it.

"Oh, you didn't?" Amy snarled. "Then where is he, you murderer?!" To everyone's shock, Amy slapped Hyper's face, and he rubbed the reddened, sensitive skin. "You're supposed to be _invincible!_ Some god you are, when you can't even save a life! So why did you just float there in space until the Master Emerald separated you?!"

"We didn't just _float there,"_ Hyper sighed. "We worked together to destroy Robotnik! I was supposed to go back to my world and Sonic was meant to fall down here! Not me!"

"Oh, _poor you,"_ Amy spat.

"Amy, please!" Tails wailed, his cheeks stained silver with the remnants of tears. "Stop it! Sonic wouldn't want you to be like this! He wanted everyone to be happy!"

_"You_ let him go out there all alone!" Amy yelled at Tails, and the little fox started to cry.

"Hey!" Knuckles yelled. "Leave him alone! He's done nothing wrong!"

"And you! You used to be so mean to him! Calling him names and fighting with him! You're crazy!"

_"I'm_ crazy?!" Knuckles growled, clenching his fists. "Alright, that's _it!"_

"No, Knuckles!" Hyper cried, grabbing his arm with such insane strength that Knuckles couldn't move at all. "She doesn't know what she's saying!"

"Shut up!" Amy screamed, fuelled only by insane rage. "It should have been you, you murderer, it should have been _you!"_ Her finger stabbed Hyper in the chest and he gasped – he knew that she was right, that it should have been him, but to hear those words with such scorn ripped his chest open and compressed all of the guilt into a dull ache shattering his spine. It was his fault it was his fault he wanted to be sick oh no he wanted to be sick-

"Lay _off,_ Amy!" Knuckles cried. "Where were _you_ during all of this, then? I didn't see you helping Sonic out!"

Amy didn't give him an answer - Knuckles took that as a sign he was right. "I don't care how strong you are!" She ran towards Hyper. "I'm going to kill you!" Hyper stopped her by grabbing her hands and she tried to hit him, run towards him, but he was too strong.

After a few minutes of resisting her with no effort, she collapsed, her legs gave up on her, and she fainted.

* * *

_"Mother? That girl who's fond of Sonic, she thinks it's big brother's fault that he's here!"_

_"She knows in her heart it is not true. When grieving, one usually blames everything else and the next thing because we refuse to accept the truth."_

_"But...but what if she tries to hurt him?"_

_"Your big brother can look after himself, my darling. He will find his way home soon."_

_"...Mother?"_

_"Yes, my child?"_

_"Can we see Sonic at some point?"_

_"Once he has awakened. We do not want to disturb him. I understand that he must be confused..."_


	3. Come With Me Again

"Is she still asleep?"

"I hope she feels better today...I heard her crying all night."

In the dark room, underneath Knuckles' duvet, curtains drawn to let only thin lines of sunlight break through, Amy Rose hid. She was exhausted from crying - her breaths were loud and heaving, her throat hurt, her head hurt, her eyes hurt, everything hurt. She'd dozed in and out of fitful sleep, tossing and turning and tangling herself uncomfortably until she woke up panting for breath, nightmares of Sonic's death playing in front of her, the latest horror novel her brain had wrote. And she wished that it had just been a dream, oh, she wished so much, every time she woke up she closed her eyes and prayed to the stars. Amy had never been religious in her life, but how was she ever meant to feel better now that Sonic was gone?

And that white hedgehog...she narrowed her eyes. Hyper, he'd called himself. A god, Knuckles had figured out. Amy didn't care _what_ he was. Now that she'd slept and cried, she thought her outburst might have been a little too harsh, but she still despised the white hedgehog for looking so much like Sonic. How dare he survive and Sonic not?

_It should have been you! It should have been you!_ Her own scornful words echoed in her head.

Sonic was gone. She'd never see him again. No more green eyes, blue quills, cheeky smile, contagious laughter, love of her life. No more Sonic.

_Please, someone, give him back to me! Please! I'll never ask for anything again!_

Amy kept pretending to be asleep, her heart aching too much for the blue hedgehog and her head throbbing from crying. It was well past ten o'clock in the morning, even though she absolutely despised sleeping in. She was a morning girl, usually, but if she made an appearance, Knuckles and Tails would probably want to speak to her, and there was a chance she might see that faker white hedgehog again.

Amy heard the door creak open, letting in a dazzling burst of morning light. "Amy?" It was Tails. "I brought you something to eat..." Amy heard him gulp. "I'm sorry, Amy. I'm so sorry that I didn't go up there with him. I...I didn't know...I thought he could have handled it...he didn't even say much before he went! He was smiling at me, and then he turned all multicoloured -" Amy gasped at the sound of the white hedgehog's presence, and would have glared at Tails if guilt didn't stab her in the chest. "He looked so cool! I didn't know that he was going to die! I didn't even get to say goodbye to him!"

_Don't blame yourself, Tails,_ was what Amy wanted to say. She knew she shouldn't have shouted at him earlier. He was just young and he tagged along with Sonic. Perhaps Sonic hadn't wanted him to come into space. That was exactly what he would have done. _I shouldn't have taken it out on you. I should have taken it all out on...him..._

Tails left the room, sighing and feeling defeated, when he bumped into Knuckles in the living room. The echidna sighed and put an arm around him. Knuckles was blown away by the little fox's tenacity and how well he'd handled his best friend's death. _I hope he doesn't tell me he's used to people leaving. _The full impact of his friend's death - could he really call Sonic a friend? - had hit him early in the morning, and he woke up sweating, covering his mouth with his hands to swallow the choking sobs. The day had grown to be absolutely beautiful - the morning light shone down on Angel Island, a lavender light to kiss the world hello, birds sang, trees whistled in the breeze, the distant ocean waves roared.

"You shouldn't have to be going through all of this," Knuckles murmured. "You're a kid. I'm sorry you've had to go through this, what with Robotnik and everything..."

"It's okay," Tails even managed to smile at him and Knuckles wanted to die. "Me and Sonic did everything together! At first I thought he didn't like me, but then he helped me! We went on great adventures, on Westside Island, and then here! I got to see a lot, a lot more than I would have if I'd stayed at home!"

But then the little fox bit his lip, and sadness filled his blue eyes. "I don't want Sonic to be forgotten. I want everyone to know that he saved the world! He's a hero!"

Knuckles smiled sadly. "He is indeed, and I don't think anyone will forget Sonic in a hurry."

Tails pressed himself into the echidna, pretending that the red fur on his friend was blue.

* * *

_Sonic! You're awake! How are you feeling? Are you hurt? Are you alright?_

_Now, now, child, not too many questions. He will be perhaps overwhelmed._

_...unh...wh-where...am I?_

_You are in the spirit world, Sonic. Your battle with Robotnik led you to space. You were successful, but at a great cost, and a cost we are sure is a mistake. _

_...spirit world? I'm...dead?_

_Yes. But it seems that you are not meant to be here quite yet...this is my youngest son. He helped you out when you first collected the Chaos Emeralds. Do you remember him?_

_Super! I...I'm sure I remember you!_

_I'm glad you do! It was my big brother who helped you when you found all the Super Emeralds! But he's been sent to Mobius instead of you..._

_So...so what does that mean? I don't understand..._

_Sonic, my dear...it may not be easy to explain, and even harder to understand..._

* * *

Hyper, sensing that he would not be welcome when Amy awakened, had left early that morning, but as he ventured onwards he realised how stupid his move had been. He had nowhere to go, no one to talk to, and he couldn't walk past anyone without receiving an unwanted strange look. He kept on thinking of what Amy had yelled in his face earlier, and even though it was the truth, couldn't stop sniffing tears away at how much it hurt.

_It should have been you! It should have been you!_

The full horror of Sonic's death unveiled itself to him then. In the Angel Island forests, alone, at almost eleven in the morning; sudden flashes of space came to him, the eerie beauty that had haunted him so, but had seen before. Sonic had focused on the mission at hand, flying through the Rings to help keep Hyper's strength up, and Hyper had told him where to go, and to quickly avoid the missiles that Robotnik was firing backwards at a last attempt to destroy him. Hyper had protected him from the full blasts of the missiles, and it was only then he noticed ugly indigo bruises painted on his arms and on his body.

Surely there had to be another way.

The memories were so clear.

_Hyper..._

He could feel and hear the sounds of the stars and the planets, whirling and spinning in space, the eerie shriek of a comet flying by. He was flying through the dark space doggedly pursing Robotnik, and he felt his arm reach out to collect a Ring. An arm he hadn't controlled.

It wasn't a memory.

"Hyper?" he heard Sonic's voice echo.

"Sonic!" Hyper cried. "We have to stop! We have to go back to Mobius!"

Sonic didn't even seem to hear him. As if Hyper had said something else completely. His eyes widened in disgust at himself and vomit-inducing horror as he remembered what he'd really said. Robotnik's giant machine was closer and closer.

_Let's go, Sonic! Let's do it together!_

"Alright, Hyper! Let's do it!"

"No!" Hyper cried, trying to pull himself backwards but Sonic just kept flying. "Don't!"

It was such a strange feeling. Hyper could still feel himself control his own body, on Angel Island, but yet his movements were useless towards Sonic. He was a ghost, watching this happen all over again, and he couldn't hear his thoughts to Sonic - it was strange even to think that the white hedgehog bravely soaring through space was Sonic and not him. It should have been him.

_It should have been you!_

"What's going on?" Hyper cried, begging someone to answer him. His mother. His younger brother. Anyone. If Sonic could hear him. The Sonic he'd travelled with and had grown to adore and admire. "Oh, no! No, please! I can't watch this again! I can't watch him die!"

Hyper tried to run, but still he floated in space, merely only a thought, an existing invisible concept, and not a body. Yet he could still feel himself on Angel Island and wondered if people had gathered around him to watch the insane white hedgehog lose his mind over a hallucination.

But this wasn't a hallucination.

He looked up to see Sonic look up to the infinite darkness of space. "Come on, Hyper, let's keep going! We have to do this! There's no time left! We have to keep going!"

He'd been arguing with Sonic over collecting Rings. Sonic had only had about thirty seconds' worth and Hyper had wanted more to ensure that Sonic wouldn't fall to his death. He wished he'd known about this. He wished so, so hard that he'd known about the brainwashing of the Master Emerald.

"No!" Hyper shrieked. "Don't go! Come back! There must be another way!"

Hyper saw Robotnik's machine explode in space, and he watched himself fly Sonic's little body out of the way, as to not get caught in the blast, but then the doctor's final plan flew ahead in front of him, its ugly metallic hands clutching the Master Emerald.

"No!" Hyper wailed, his ghostly hands flying to his face, clawing, hot tears dripping down his cheeks in a flood. "I don't want to see it again! _I don't want to see it again!"_ He was going crazy. But, in a fleeting moment of rationalisation, Hyper realised that this might have been his chance to see what had gone wrong. What mistake he might have made and not noticed it. But why would he have been granted that chance to watch the awful scene again, when Sonic couldn't hear him?

"Hyper! I found some Rings! So don't worry!" he heard Sonic happily tell him. "Robotnik just needs a few more hits and he'll be dust!"

"Stop, Sonic! Please stop! You're going to die!_"_ Hyper screamed as loud as he could. But there was no way he could catch the attention of the blue hedgehog. "Amy was right! I'm no use of a god if I can't help you! I'm sorry, Sonic!"

Hyper remembered worrying about Sonic's battered and bloody body from slamming into Robotnik's machine, but the Rings had mild healing powers and kept Sonic safe. Hyper had tried to limit his consumption of the Rings to prolong his powers, but it couldn't be done - and he remembered screaming at Sonic to stop and calm down, look for Rings on the way, _you're hurt-_

"No! _No!"_

"I don't want to be a problem, Hyper! I just want Robotnik gone!"

"No, no, Sonic, you never caused me problems! I was happy to help you!" Hyper broke down, collapsing to his knees, sobbing. "I can't watch this again!"

The last impact with Robotnik's machine sent it in flames again and the Master Emerald floated away, but Hyper watched tearfully and listened as the Emerald separated the two; it sounded like a bolt of lightning striking the world, a high-pitched shrill noise of the god separating from the hedgehog.

Hyper turned his head. On Angel Island, he was sobbing at the same time as he knew what was about to happen.

Sonic was blue. His body was bloodied. One of his eyes was blinded and shut, one of his ears half-torn off, his body painted with bruises and he floated there helplessly for a few seconds as Hyper just stared; but then Sonic started trying to scream, but in space, no one could have heard him, buried alive in the heavens. He covered his mouth, his seeing eye wide with shock and desperation and pleading for someone to help him; after a split second he was swallowed up by a white portal that disappeared as soon as it came.

_The Master Emerald..._

_Robotnik's thoughts influenced it so. Blackened its heart, darkened its idea of what is good, what is just._

_There was nothing you could have done._

"Sonic! _Sonic!"_

Hyper opened his eyes to find himself back on Angel Island, as if it had just been a dream, but it had not. His hands were sweaty underneath the Ring he was carrying, his legs had no circulation, blood flow paralyzed, woken up straight into a nightmare. He shivered violently, his body on autopilot and his mind running riot; he had to run and lose his stomach in the bushes, vomiting and retching loudly, the blinding star lights of space making him nauseous under his skull. He was a pathetic mess, blood thinning into a coma, lying like a corpse on the warm grass, torturing himself with images of Sonic's death, over and over. He tried to close his eyes but the brutal image of Sonic's death splayed itself out in front of him.

"I killed you!" Hyper cried to no one. "I killed you again!" He pressed his hands into his eyes, hiding himself. "Amy was right! I killed you! I killed you!"

Almost too conveniently, Knuckles and Tails were out walking quietly when they heard Hyper's shrieks, and the little fox and echidna ran as fast as they could in the direction of his screams.

"Hyper!" Tails cried, putting his arms around him. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"I killed Sonic!" Hyper wailed. "I killed him!"

"No, you didn't! You didn't! Robotnik did!" Tails tried to reassure, but it frightened him how strong the white hedgehog was underneath his pathetic attempts to try and comfort him. Tails was adamant that Hyper would never have wanted to hurt Sonic, and from what Knuckles told him, didn't understand how the Emerald taking Sonic was Hyper's fault. He also didn't understand Amy's logic, but Knuckles just said she was grieving.

"No! I did! H-He was here, right now! He was alive! He was here! And then…and then Robotnik died, and I watched a-a-and Sonic was th-there and he...h-he...it's my fault! I should have known! Amy was right! What kind of g-god am I if I c-can't even h-help anyone?!"

Tails and Knuckles had no idea what to say.

* * *

_...mother? Why...why did you make big brother watch what happened again?_

_Because he was convinced that there had to have been another way to help Sonic. It is a cruel thing I have done, child, but he will learn._

_But he's gone crazy! He thinks he killed Sonic!_

_If the little fox understands that he did not, then in time, he will realise it, too. Why the Emerald took Sonic is something I will never understand or forgive. _

_I don't understand, mother. Why did big brother think there had to be another way?_

_Such a thing is natural when you are grieving or confused, little one._

_...alright. Should we tell Sonic?_

_No, child. Do not speak of this to him. I do not want anyone else feeling guilty. He has enough to try and understand as it is._

_Okay, mother._


	4. Love Goes On

"It shouldn't have happened, Tails. That's all."

As the days drew ever on, Tails especially had grown to worry about Hyper. The white hedgehog had said no more than five words after they'd found him in the forest, screaming that he'd killed Sonic again, it was his fault, and Tails's heart had wrenched at the sight of the stranger wailing and punching the grass with his fists. He missed his best friend unbearably, but he was astonishingly good at hiding his pain until he was alone. He grieved privately and quietly, and over near the Angel Island beach - a place Sonic had particularly enjoyed relaxing on the short time they were on the island together - Tails had started building a little shrine to him. He went to the beach every day and spoke to Sonic as he watched the sunset, or children playing, and listened to nature and all of Mobius continue on without him.

_Because_ of him.

The little fox was unspeakably proud of Sonic. The blue hedgehog he got to call his best friend. They had been two branches of one tree. Two sides of a coin. And Tails missed him painfully, so much that he cried every night, but that didn't dim his love for his big brother. And in a strange thought, Tails wondered that if Hyper was to stay on Mobius, maybe he'd be able to act in the same sort of brotherly manner as Sonic had. Knuckles was too serious.

Tails was simply glad that Hyper didn't hide away when he came to see him, in the same manner he'd visited Amy - who he hadn't seen in days. Hyper was much more grateful for food and drink and company, and Tails never knew that every time the fox left the room, Hyper would cry to himself - partly due to hopelessness, and frightened at what he'd witnessed in the forest, but mostly because he was lonely, and he felt irreparably guilty for being there instead of Sonic.

_I'm so sorry, Tails. Sonic used to think about you all the time. How you let him see the world through a fresh pair of eyes. You reignited his love for nature, you reminded him to forget about trivial things and go dive in mud puddles or do something silly. You helped him see things simply. He sometimes made chaos of the simple things, and you helped him stop that. _

_Tails...remember when you tried to teach Sonic how to swim? Sometimes he thought about that, and sometimes lost sight of even jumping in. Concerned with how he looked, how much time before something at home became urgent, how long it would take for him to dry. But you reminded him that nature takes care of us all. The sun dries you. The swimming works your muscles. The dark will come and say the day is over._

_You reminded him to stop and listen to what the world is telling us; the actual world, and not the people on it._

_I'm so sorry, Tails. I'm forever, eternally, utterly sorry for what's happened._

* * *

Amy came to visit Knuckles five days after Sonic's death. The echidna was holding up fine - he would even have gone as far to say that life was back to normal. Inevitably, something was missing from his life and from the rest of Mobius, but it was his job to guard the Master Emerald, and he had to continue on. Knuckles had always been quick to recover from anything, and was excellent at distracting himself, so unless he was around Tails or Hyper, he had hardly even thought about Sonic.

Until Amy arrived.

She didn't look any better. Her hair was greasy and messy, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She looked a little thinner, and her once vibrant green eyes held no more life in them, and Knuckles gasped at the sight of her. She looked _awful, _and she sniffed in greeting at him, tearfully wiping at her eyes, and Knuckles didn't even have the courage to go and give her a hug, he was so shocked by how bad she was doing.

_For the love of Mobius, Knuckles, it's only been five days since he died. _

"Hi, Amy," Knuckles greeted, nodding at her. Amy tried to smile back, and Knuckles sighed in sympathy. "How are you doing?"

Amy just shook her head. "Could be better, I guess."

"Do...do you want to come in?"

Amy stared past him. "Is _he_ here?"

_He_ meant _Hyper,_ and the utter disgust in her voice made Knuckles shudder. Honestly, he was disgusted at Amy's reaction to Hyper's existence, especially when he was so interested in Hyper's powers and what he knew about the Emeralds. He'd had several talks with him, but Hyper hadn't really said much. Especially after finding him in the woods. Knuckles simply wanted Amy and Hyper to be tolerant of each other - he didn't care if they were friends or not. "Uh...yeah. But we don't have to talk to him if you don't want to. I mean, he's a bit of a loner, anyway."

In the house, Hyper was sitting in the living room, holding onto his Ring with his eyes closed; he almost looked as if he was praying. The two stared at him, and although Amy tried to walk away, Knuckles always pulled her back.

"What are you _doing?"_ she hissed. "I don't want to see him!"

"I know," Knuckles sighed. He turned to Amy and stared at her straight in the eyes. "Amy...I know it hurts, but can you at least _try_ to get on with him?"

Hyper opened his eyes and stretched, and found himself meeting the defeated glare of Amy Rose. He blinked several times, and Knuckles wanted to melt into the ground in embarrassment. Hyper figured that as long as he was on Mobius, he didn't want to make an enemy out of Amy Rose. Knuckles and Tails had accepted him immediately, and he'd not dared speak to anyone else. Amy was shivering as she stared at him.

"I don't like this anymore than you do," Hyper sighed. "I wish I could have done something, too, but any attempt I make is probably messing with things I shouldn't be."

"Like what?" Knuckles asked, trying to make conversation, and knowing full well what Hyper's answer would be. He sat down, and beckoned a reluctant Amy to join him.

"Matters with the living and dead should stay separate," Hyper explained. "That's the way life works. Things die, and things that die are meant to stay dead. It's unfair, but that's the way it is. If I were to attempt something, it'd be incredibly dangerous, and probably wouldn't work. I'd get into a lot of trouble."

"Can't you go back in time?" Knuckles pleaded.

Hyper shrugged. "I don't think so. It wouldn't be the same. The Hyper then would still be in Sonic, and...and I don't want to see it again...and time travel is so dangerous, Knuckles, it...I've never tried it. I can't even begin to think of how to do it."

Defeated, Knuckles sank back into the sofa.

"But, I do have an idea...something that might work, and give you some peace."

Amy looked up at Hyper, and their uneasy eye contact made Hyper gulp, but she wasn't glaring at him. This was a start.

"It's not something I should be doing, but...if you like, I could...talk to Sonic. I could find out how he's doing, if he knows what happened...and maybe find out if my mother or brother know anything," Hyper was met with a raised eyebrow from Amy, and he pressed his face into his fists, feeling the tears prick again. "Amy..." He looked up. "Did you know how much Sonic thought about you?"

Amy's eyes began to widen slowly. Knuckles braced himself.

"He did," Hyper smiled. "All the time. He thought you were lovely, but he never had the courage to even be around you without feeling silly, as he put it. He'd talk for hours about you, Amy. Really, he did. All the way to the pyramid of Sandopolis to the Hidden Palace, he told me about you."

Amy just stared at him, wanting to believe that Hyper was just trying to sell her the idea that she could have a future with Sonic. But there was something else at work, and slowly, the anger and hatred coiled in her heart began to untangle itself, and she might have gasped at the idea that she didn't hate Hyper. But even if he could do something, she knew that Sonic would still just run away from her, and the vicious cycle of disappointment would just repeat itself. Maybe in the next life or something. If there was one.

Maybe Hyper knew about that sort of thing.

"I...okay," Amy didn't know what to say. "Wh...what did he say?"

"You know," Hyper smiled at her. The smile was so genuine that Amy gasped quietly again. "The sort of thing people say when they're falling in love. You probably don't believe me, but yes, Amy...Sonic was confused about his feelings for you for a long time. Then just as we were going through the Lava Reef, he told me he thought he was falling in love. I told him to pursue it once Robotnik was defeated...but..."

"But he's gone," Amy replied. Knuckles would have fainted if this had been a few days ago - Amy and Hyper, talking to each other like civilised people?

"So, Amy," Hyper went on. His smile fell. "You don't have to accept me. You can hate me as much as you like. It doesn't matter to me. I just want to give you - _all_ of you - some peace of mind and closure. So many people leave this world without knowing what their loved ones really wanted to tell them."

Amy's eyes welled up. "Hyper...you...really can do that? Sonic really did love me?"

"He was certainly heading that way," Hyper nodded. "Love is such a strange thing. I've lived long enough to know that it's not what the films show it as. It goes beyond feeling, or knowing. It's just there, whether you feel it or not. It's a lifelong commitment to that person and that person only. It's up to you whether or not to keep the spark alive..."

Amy broke down into tears again, and Knuckles would have fainted at the sight of the pink hedgehog slowly edging towards Hyper as she cried, and the white hedgehog welcomed her warmly into his arms as she cried into his chest.


End file.
